Method of making shoes



T. J. OKEEFFE.

METHOD 0F MAKING SHOES. APPLICATION man Nov. zo, me. menzwfo Dic. 29. |919.

1 ,332,230. Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

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Thomas d. @Keeffe I Attys THOMAS J. OKEEFFE, or CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD 0F MAKING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2,1920.

Application illed November 20, 1916, Serial No. 132,308. Renewed December 29, 1919. Serial No. 348,046.

To all whom t may concern: Y

- Beit known that I, THOMAS J. a citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridge, county lof Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inMethods of Making Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specifcation, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

In the manufacture of shoes it is customary to secure the outsole to the shoe with the grain side outermost. The grain face of leather in its natural state will not readily take finish, and, therefore, it is the usual practice to buff the grain face of the sole either before or after it is sewed to the shoe thereby removing the exterior surface and providing the outsole with a fresh surface which will readily take the desired finish. This buf'ng operation is generally accomplished by means of buifing wheels or rolls which grind or scrape-olf the exterior leather surface, thus leaving the desired fresh buffing surface. The material which is thus removed by these buffing machines is in the form of a powder or minute particles and is a waste product.

Moreover, in the manufacture of shoes it isa common practice to place inside of the shoe on the bottom thereof a thin lining of leather or cloth which is known tothe trade as the sock lining5 It is one of the o jects of my present invention to provide a novel method of making a shoe by which the material which is removed in buiiin thesole can be used in making the sock lining. By this improved method no extra expense is incurred for the material for the sock lining, and there is no waste resulting from the buiing operation; I accomplish this object by buiing the sole in such a way that the material which'is removed from each sole to produce the bulfed surface is in the form of a single thin waferlike sheet, and this sheet is inserted into the shoe during the process of manufacture thereof to form the sock lining, the grain face of the sheet being preferably placed uppermost.

The drawings show some of the steps 1nvolvedin the manufacture of a shoe in accordance with my invention.

Figure 1 is a view of the soleI lof a shoe showing the manner in which it is buled in accordance with my invention;

OKEEFFE,

l Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a lwelt shoe made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 3 vis a view showing a. machine by which the bufing operation may be performed in accordance with my invention.

The' invention is equally applicable in the manufacture of welt or McKaysewed shoes,

but since an understanding of the invention can be gained by reference to welt shoes only, I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate a McKay-sewed shoe.

The shoe herein shownJ is made in the usual Way, it comprising the insole 1 to which the upper 2 and welt 3 are sewed by means of the usual inseam stitches 4, and the outsole 5 which is sewed to the welt by the stitches 6, as usual.

As stated above, it is customary to so secure the outsole 5 to the shoe that the outer face 7 of the outsole is the grain face of the leather, and' it is also customary to buff this grain face 7 so as to remove the natural surface thereof which will not readily take a finish and to provide in its place a buied surface which can be finished. In accordance with my method, I buil the outsole 5 before it is sewed to the shoe, and in such a way that the portion which is removed from the face 7 thereof is in the form of a single thin wafer-like sheet of uniform thickness. In Fig. l, for instance, I have shown the outsole 5 and have indicated at 8 the thin wafer-like sheet which is being removed from the surface 7 This portion 8 may be removed in any suitable Way, but preferably I will remove it by means of the 'builing and whitening machine illustrated in my copending application, Se. No. 7916, filed February 12, 1915. This machine comprises a. supporting member 10 having a fixed unyielding gaging edge 11 over which the sole isfed, a knife 12 having its cutting edge extending parallel to said gaging edge 11 and situated closely adjacent to but slightly above the latter, and an internally-yieldable presser element 14. situated to bear on the leather at a point immediately adjacent the edge of the 'knife and above the gaging edge 11. The sole is fed through this machine with the grain side 7 in position +-o be-acted upon by the knife 12. The operation of the device will be to cut a thin wafer-like sheet 8- of uniform thickness from the grain side of the leather, all

. as set forth in my above-mentioned co-pendin application. This thin wafer-like sheet wi 1 have a uniform thickness, regardless of any varying thickness in the sole 5. This sheet 8 which is thus .removed is as thin us it can be and yet maintain its integral character. In removing the portion 8, there will be practically no more of the grain surface removed than when the buing is done with rolls or abrasive tools, but the portion which I is removed is in the form of an 1ntegral sheet of uniform thickness.

After the sole has thus been buffed, it is sewed into the shoe in usual manner. The piece 8 which is removed from the sole is used as a sock lining. This piecel can be applied to the inner sole 1 if the shoe is a Welt shoe, or to the inside of the sole if the shoe is aMcKay-sewed shoe, at any suitable stage in the operation of manufacturing the shoe.

For instance, in the case of a welt shoe, the piece 8 may be applied to the insole before the upper and welt are sewed to the insole, or it may be ap lied thereto after the upper and Welt have een sewed to the insole and the outsole sevved to the welt. In any event, the completed shoe has as its sock lining, the grain surface ofvthe outsole which has been removed in the form of ain integral thin Wafer-like sheet. 4

I claim:

The steps in the process of making a shoe whichl consist in providing an outsole member, buing said member by removing the entire grain side thereof in one thin waferlike sheet of uniform thickness, sewing said outsole member to the shoe and applying said thin wafer-like'sheet to the interior of the shoe asa sock lining.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

THOMAS J. OKEEFFE. 

